Shattered Lies (Web of Lies #3)(68)





* * *



In too short a time, Dalton was back in the woods looking at Michelle’s grave. Next to her, Jason’s coffin rested as the minister talked about Jason and the good he and Michelle did. They were united in love on earth as they were now in heaven. The flag was removed, folded, and handed to Birch. Jason and Michelle had been all each other had. By the way Birch clung to the flag, Dalton knew his memory would live on.

In silence, those who had served with Jason, or who had been helped by the couple, lined up behind Dalton and Grant. Dalton stepped up to the coffin, saluted it, and unhooked the silver USAF Pararescue pin in the shape of a parachute with a guardian angel holding the world safely in her hands in the center and placed it on the coffin. That others may live was engraved on the pin. Jason had lived and died by their motto. Dalton closed his hand into a fist and slammed it onto the pin, embedding it into the coffin. With a deep breath, he turned and silently joined Lizzy as Grant set his PJ pin next to Dalton’s and with a hard hit, sank it into the top of the coffin. PJs, Seals, Marines, Rangers, Army, Navy . . . they all showed up as pin after pin was hammered in long straight lines down the length of the coffin until only one person remained.

Birch may have been in military dress uniform, but it was his own presidential pin he pulled from his lapel and placed in the middle of the coffin. Birch bowed his head and then with a final echoing sound, hammered the gold pin. The center was enclosed in a ring of fifty stars and emblazoned with a golden eagle clutching an olive branch in the right talon and thirteen arrows in the left, symbolizing peace and war. As Birch saluted, everyone rose. The sound of the twenty-one-gun salute echoed across the woods as Jason was laid to rest.



* * *



Birch sat in the chair between the two couches in the Oval Office as Senator Epps and Director Kirby sat down on either side. It had been a long morning, honoring Jason, and he was in pain, but important matters needed to be addressed. Tate had sent out a press release and Birch had talked to the White House press corps who had thinned greatly since Tate had released the evidence that Mollia Domini had paid off reporters. But now, it was time to fight. Lizzy and her team were beginning their plan while it was time for Birch to play politics.

“I never knew you had men helping you,” Epps said with a sigh. “Retired military volunteering to protect our country. I’ve submitted Jason and Michelle for congressional honors. Who are the others? I believe I have met a couple in my house.”

“Thank you for honoring Jason and Michelle, but I’m not disclosing the volunteers. Neither Congress nor the office of the president pays them, so I’m not required to disclose anything. Suffice it to say, their lives are, and will continue to be, on the line for some time.”

Kirby nodded. He knew most of the team by now. But there was no evidence to prove he was correct, so he’d kept his mouth shut. “Orson is raising holy hell.”

“I don’t care. He’s a small fish. After he’s been exposed, no one will listen to him. We’re after the big fish now. What I need is the FBI working with the locals so there’s no confusion that federal law still rules. Yet we’re in no way trying to infringe on anyone’s rights. I’ve talked to the heads of the exchanges that were hit and everyone is in agreement to keep the exchange closed until the head of Mollia Domini is captured or killed.” Birch leaned back in the chair as Epps looked worriedly at him.

“But how long will that take?”

“There’s no saying, but I would guess very soon. It won’t be closed any longer than it was after 9/11, which I know wreaked havoc on the markets. But it’s so much better to open when we’re stable than to have the panic caused now with sell-offs, no matter what Bertie Geofferies or Sebastian Abel preaches to the media.”

“Mr. President,” Kirby said with worry, “I hate to point this out, but you’re not allowed to authorize a private military of retired agents to wage a legal war. Any evidence collected would be a bitch to take to a judge. And anyone who kills under those circumstances would technically be guilty of murder.”

“I haven’t authorized them to do anything. They’re a volunteer group of concerned citizens who know they are bound to the laws of this country.” Birch could practically hear Humphrey snort, but there was no denying the team existed. Not after New York.

Kirby looked annoyed at the loophole, but the only thing he could do about it was to arrest them if he ever got evidence they’d committed a crime. “How about if I send someone with them?”

“Or how about you give Elizabeth James her job back, only this time she reports directly to you?”

“She won’t be able to work at SA Tech anymore,” Epps pointed out.

“I think she’ll be okay with that.” Birch grinned. He knew she’d already drained his account and got another million dollars from Bertie Geofferies in his desperation to beat out Sebastian. “And maybe she’ll want to take a nice teaching position at the academy after this is all over. You know, since she’s still trying to run her father’s bar.”

“One of these days I’ll learn what she’s already done for this country and will probably need to buy her a beer. Until then, I’ll have her reinstated immediately,” Kirby said, pulling out his phone.

“What do you need of me?” Epps asked. He’d been a big help making sure Birch’s declaration of war against Mollia Domini would be as well received as possible.

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